End result: when G1 died, G2 went to some considerale effort to collect all three copies of the will and destroy them, lest it could be used to make young Cumberland go to Hannover and give Fritz of Wales Britain.
Wooow. The Hanover dysfunction strikes again!
Grafting my half-witted (son) upon a madwoman would not mend the breed.
Loool, well, I see Wilhelmine isn't the only one who can be savage about her relatives!
(Source footnoting for this one: Hervey's memoirs, the latest non-Victorian edition we DON'T have, volume 3.)
Ooh, right, I had forgotten about these incredibly expensive memoirs. Hmmmmmm. Have put them back on my wishlist for if the consulting gig works out. :D
Then legend has it this happens:
Fritz of Wales: Okay, a year has passed since Granddad died, I'm still in Hannover, still single, that's it, gonna show up in Berlin and marry Wilhelmine on my lonesome. G2 (informed by spies): No you don't! Kidnap the Prince at a masque ball, bring him here!
Whereas Dennison says this happened:
Fritz of Wales: Okay, a year has passed, I'm still in Hannover, gonna make myself useful and help arrange the marriage between my cousin of Ansbach and Friederike, my hopefully soon sister-in-law, daughter of FW. Caroline: You what? What business is my nephew's marriage of yours? Husband, we need to bring him here. G2: Kidnap the prince at a masque ball, bring him here!
Well, those are very different things! I do remember wondering what evidence there was about the plan to sneak off and marry Wilhelmine, it seemed very unlikely. Seems like maybe it was too good to be true? Or maybe the second version was the cover-up story. :P
Re: The First Iron Lady: A life of Caroline of Ansbach- III: Gloriana
Loool, well, I see Wilhelmine isn't the only one who can be savage about her relatives!
No kidding. I do wonder whether he's speaking out of the general assumption any daughter of FW is probably as mad as FW, or whether Wilhelmine was in right in her memoirs that her old governess Leti told Lady Darlington/Gräfin Kielmannsegg all kind of negative things about her, of which the story of her having uneven shoulders (a la grandpa F1) was but one. (But the one which she had to undress in front of Hannover ladies for when Mom wanted to prove she had a straight back.)
Well, those are very different things! I do remember wondering what evidence there was about the plan to sneak off and marry Wilhelmine, it seemed very unlikely. Seems like maybe it was too good to be true? Or maybe the second version was the cover-up story. :P
Since Dennison is a good biographer who does footnotes and source references, I can tell you he has both stories from: Vivian, Frances: A life of Frederick, Prince of Wales, 1707 - 1751: A Connoiseur of the Arts. The Edwin Mellen Press, Lewiston, 2006. He does not mention who Vivian's primary sources were.
ETA: in the AU where Fritz of Wales shows up in Berlin to marry Wilhelmine and asks for asylum from mean Dad and Mom while he's at it, I've already asked how you think FW would respond; now I'm asking how Wilhelmine and Fritz would?
Edited 2021-08-01 11:22 (UTC)
Re: The First Iron Lady: A life of Caroline of Ansbach- III: Gloriana
Well, in rl Fritz of Wales arrives in London and gets reintroduced to his (un)loving family at 7 pm on a dark December evening in 1728, so if he'd gone to Berlin instead, it would have been around this time (i.e. say, November 1728?) Of course, back then he didn't know how badly things would get with Mom and Dad, so he wouldn't have sought asylum yet. For that, the perfect year is...drumroll... 1730, when G2 at January 31st is observed by courtiers in public jesting with son William about what a fabulous King he'd make while simultanously refusing to grant Fritz of Wales more than a third of the budget George Augustus himself had had as Prince of Wales, with the argument that FoW isn't married, which doesn't look as if it's about to change soon given G2's enthusiasm for the Prussian marriage project....
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Re: The First Iron Lady: A life of Caroline of Ansbach- III: Gloriana
Wooow. The Hanover dysfunction strikes again!
Grafting my half-witted (son) upon a madwoman would not mend the breed.
Loool, well, I see Wilhelmine isn't the only one who can be savage about her relatives!
(Source footnoting for this one: Hervey's memoirs, the latest non-Victorian edition we DON'T have, volume 3.)
Ooh, right, I had forgotten about these incredibly expensive memoirs. Hmmmmmm. Have put them back on my wishlist for if the consulting gig works out. :D
Then legend has it this happens:
Fritz of Wales: Okay, a year has passed since Granddad died, I'm still in Hannover, still single, that's it, gonna show up in Berlin and marry Wilhelmine on my lonesome.
G2 (informed by spies): No you don't! Kidnap the Prince at a masque ball, bring him here!
Whereas Dennison says this happened:
Fritz of Wales: Okay, a year has passed, I'm still in Hannover, gonna make myself useful and help arrange the marriage between my cousin of Ansbach and Friederike, my hopefully soon sister-in-law, daughter of FW.
Caroline: You what? What business is my nephew's marriage of yours? Husband, we need to bring him here.
G2: Kidnap the prince at a masque ball, bring him here!
Well, those are very different things! I do remember wondering what evidence there was about the plan to sneak off and marry Wilhelmine, it seemed very unlikely. Seems like maybe it was too good to be true? Or maybe the second version was the cover-up story. :P
Re: The First Iron Lady: A life of Caroline of Ansbach- III: Gloriana
No kidding. I do wonder whether he's speaking out of the general assumption any daughter of FW is probably as mad as FW, or whether Wilhelmine was in right in her memoirs that her old governess Leti told Lady Darlington/Gräfin Kielmannsegg all kind of negative things about her, of which the story of her having uneven shoulders (a la grandpa F1) was but one. (But the one which she had to undress in front of Hannover ladies for when Mom wanted to prove she had a straight back.)
Well, those are very different things! I do remember wondering what evidence there was about the plan to sneak off and marry Wilhelmine, it seemed very unlikely. Seems like maybe it was too good to be true? Or maybe the second version was the cover-up story. :P
Since Dennison is a good biographer who does footnotes and source references, I can tell you he has both stories from: Vivian, Frances: A life of Frederick, Prince of Wales, 1707 - 1751: A Connoiseur of the Arts. The Edwin Mellen Press, Lewiston, 2006. He does not mention who Vivian's primary sources were.
ETA: in the AU where Fritz of Wales shows up in Berlin to marry Wilhelmine and asks for asylum from mean Dad and Mom while he's at it, I've already asked how you think FW would respond; now I'm asking how Wilhelmine and Fritz would?
Re: The First Iron Lady: A life of Caroline of Ansbach- III: Gloriana
Ooh, that's a really good question. What year is this, remind me?
Re: The First Iron Lady: A life of Caroline of Ansbach- III: Gloriana